Tim Harford, “the Undercover Economist”, is a Financial Times columnist, BBC broadcaster, and the author of eight books (most recently “The Next Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy”) and the podcast “Cautionary Tales”.

6 days ago · Here’s the problem with forecasts: some of them are right, and some of them are wrong, and by the time we find out which is which, it’s too late. This leads to what we might call the forecasting pa…

One line biography Tim Harford, “the Undercover Economist”, is a Financial Times columnist, BBC broadcaster, and the author of ten books (most recently "The Truth Detective") and the podcast “Cautionary Tales”. Brief biography Tim is an economist, journalist and broadcaster. He is author of "How To Make the World Add Up" / "The Data Detective",…

5 posts published by Tim Harford in the year 2025

6 days ago · In the bleak Russian winter of 1959, nine experienced hikers set out on an expedition. None of them made it back alive. When their campsite was finally discovered, it told a chilling story: tents s…

Oct 17, 2024 · From time to time, my editor will suggest that I write a column about how to be more productive. It’s a sure way to trigger imposter syndrome because, whether or not I appear productive from the outside, I certainly don’t feel productive on the inside. In fairness to myself, and to anyone who worries that they should be getting more done, personal productivity is a fiendishly hard problem ...

Nov 27, 2024 · The simplest and most reliable way to see everything I create is here on this blog, via RSS or email. (I don't share your email or use it for any other purpose.

Sep 22, 2022 · I first began to conceive of this column three and a half hours before typing these words, as I stood with my wife and children in an impossibly long queue for the Eurostar, snaking across Gare du Nord in 35C heat. The problem was not the delay, but the discomfort, the anxiety and the uncertainty. It was impossible to read or even think because the queue moved and bunched; it was dammed and ...

“Endlessly insightful and full of surprises — exactly what you would expect from Tim Harford.” Bill Bryson In Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy, I presented a selection of fifty radical inventions that changed the world. Now, in this new book, The Next Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy, I’m back with another array of remarkable, memorable, curious …

Oct 3, 2024 · Earlier in the summer, the Democratic party and its supporters faced a difficult decision: should they gently but firmly sideline President Joe Biden from the 2024 ticket? There were plenty of reas…